"I'm going to do it!" Marinette said. Alya chuckled at how her face scrunched up with determination. "This time for sure!"

Alya shook her head. She debated offering to just tell him herself – and finally get the whole situation over with one way or another – but she had to admit that if Marinette couldn't even go up and tell Adrien what was what, it didn't really matter how he responded. If she can't keep it together, they wouldn't get anywhere even if he is interested. "Definitely, girl." She said, hooking her arm around Marinette's shoulders. "You got this."

The two eyed their quarry, Adrien, across the courtyard, talking to Nino. "I've got this!" Marinette repeated. "I've definitely got this!"

"Mhmm." Alya said, fighting her snicker. "And what are you going to do when you walk over there? Is this a 'I love you' or a 'Will you go out with me' kind of scenario?"

Marinette floundered and covered her face. "Oh, no, I didn't think about that!"

Alya patted her back sympathetically. "Try asking him to the zoo. Lots of time to talk, my dad gets your money…" Luckily, that broke Marinette out of her tension enough to make her laugh. "Besides, I'm going to need to be there as back up and Dad's been telling me that Dinah misses me."

Marinette raised her eyebrows. "Dinah?"

"Remember the panther Kim was making fun of that got Dad akumatized?"

"She's named Dinah?"

Alya shrugged. "Two birds. You get a date with Adrien and I have an excuse to check up on my favorite kitty."

"Pfft. Don't let Chat Noir hear you say that."

"Oh, what's he going to do? Come on, Adrien's going to leave any second! Go ask him!"

"Alright! Alright! I'll do it!" Marinette jumped out towards him, shuffling over to intercept him before he could leave the school.

Alya followed along, sharing a knowing look with Nino as Adrien greeted them. "Hey Marinette." He said. "Hey Alya. Any plans for the weekend?"

Marinette muttered some incomprehensible gibberish, so Alya grinned and threw an arm over Marinette's shoulder. "Not yet! Though, Marinette had a great idea she was meaning to ask you about. Didn't you, Marinette?"

Adrien chuckled. "Really?"

Marinette nodded. Her face was beet-red, but Alya could feel her shoulders move as she took a deep breath. "Want to zoo to the go with me? I mean- go to the zoo. Tomorrow." She covered her face. Alya patted her shoulder before an audible shriek could escape.

Adrien tilted his head. "I… should be free tomorrow! Sure, I'd love to go to the zoo. Who all is going?"

Marinette turned into Alya, who just shook her head with a sigh. We've been through this, Alya. You can't ask him out for her – even just correcting an error. It's got to be her.

But lord. These kids.

Ah, well. I can just bribe Nino into bailing last minute. "Just us!" Alya said with a grin. "You two down for a double date?"

Adrien hesitated at that, and Alya smirked when a hint of pink dusted his cheeks. "Date?" He asked. He chuckled uncomfortably.

"Yeah. Me and Marinette, and you and Nino. What did you think I meant?" She turned a little so that she could lean close to Adrien without disrupting Marinette too much. "Hmm?"

"Ah, nothing!" He held his hands up placatingly. "What do you think, Nino?"

"Sure, I'm down." Nino shrugged, though Alya caught his suspicious look. She communicated as best she could through eye contact alone, but they'd been through that song and dance so many times she didn't think she even needed to try. No doubt Nino had caught on just from Marinette's somewhat successful attempt to ask. Because not everyone was as observant as a rusty lamppost. "I'll have to check my schedule, though. Get back to you on that."

"Oh, I see." Adrien said, looking a tiny bit disappointed.

"We're going either way." Alya said. "Dad keeps bugging me to visit the panther. We'll make do even if your date can't make it, Adrien." If he only knew.

"Oh, well, sure! I'll definitely come if I can!"

"Awesome!" Alya said. "You know, I almost hope Nino can't come."

"She says," Nino said, "as if I am not standing right here."

Alya grinned and leaned close to Adrien. "We haven't really hung out much without him around, have we? It'll give you some bonding time with us girls."

"Still present." Nino said in a perfect deadpan.

Adrien smiled. "That sounds nice! I'm looking forward to it."

"Adrien says good-naturedly, forgetting that he's implying he also hopes his best friend can't come." Nino said.

"Aw, come on, Nino, I just meant it'd be nice to get closer to the girls. Of course, I want you there."

Nino finally shook his head and laughed. "Yeah, whatever dude. Maybe I'll just bail on purpose so that you can have your bonding time." He teased.

"You know I love you." Adrien hooked his arm around Nino's shoulders. "And I would never want you gone."

Alya snickered. "That's why it needs to be just us, Nino. When you're there, he only has eyes for you."

Adrien shrugged and grinned. "I cannot dispute this."

Nino crossed his arms. "Alright, alright. I forgive you. And I'll see what I can do about tomorrow." The glance he sent her told her that that statement was for her, and he meant it the exact opposite way Adrien thought.

Now I just need to find an excuse to bail on them once we're there. I'm sure I could use Dinah, at least for a while. Hopefully that's all they'll need. If not, well, I can pretend to be called away or something.

Marinette was screaming. Alya just nodded, as if the single note was a wise and coherent string of sentences. "What should I do?!" Marinette wailed. "I can't go like this!"

Alya had to admit, this had thrown a wrench in the plan. Since Nino had graciously not even bothered asking his parents to go with them in the first place and Marinette had come down with a sudden and unexpected illness, Alya was two people down on her double date. The problem, of course, being that at least one of them was the wrong person down. And since they made plans for a morning trip there wasn't any time to call it off. Alya herself was already there, having gone with her father when he left for work, and Adrien would no doubt be along any minute.

She heard, over the phone, Marinette's wracking coughs interrupt the devastated whining. "Girl, don't worry. If you're sick, you're sick. We all understand. I'll hang out with Adrien here for a while then I'll bring him by and we'll check on you, alright?"

"No! I can't let Adrien see me like this! I'm a mess!"

Alya sighed. Like that matters. If a boy can't see you when you're sick he doesn't deserve you. And Adrien will only worry about you, anyway. "It's fine. We won't stay long, just long enough for him to tell you get well soon and we'll be out of your hair."

"I finally had a date with him…"

She shook her head. Inasmuch as Nino and I bailing on a friend hangout is a date, but sure, let's go with that. "There'll be other chances. You managed to ask him out this time, at least! Next time you might even ask him on a proper date! Still progress!"

"I guess." Her dejected tone brought Alya down, too, but she resolved to stay optimistic for Marinette's sake.

"Don't worry, girl. This'll be the perfect time for me to plant the seed. I'm still your wingwoman! You may not be here, but that doesn't mean we're getting nowhere. So just focus on getting better and we can pick back up on Monday, got it?"

"Okay, Alya. I wish I could be there with you."

"I know. It's fine. I'll see you later today, okay?"

"Okay."

"Get better. I got to go. Adrien's here." Alya waited for her goodbye before hanging up and waving to Adrien. "So," She said, "good news and bad news."

Adrien tilted his head. "Bad news?"

"Marinette's sick, so she can't make it."

"Oh." Adrien's brow knit together. "Is she okay?"

"She'll be fine." Alya waved off his concern. I'm sure it's just a bug. She'll probably be fine by morning. "But we can go visit her when we're done here if you have time."

"Definitely! Should we bring her something?"

Aside from your face? Nah, no need. "We could get her some hot tea or something. We'll figure it out before we leave."

Adrien nodded. "Okay. But with her gone, it's just you and me then?"

"Yep." She grinned. "That's the good news. Just for today, I'm all yours."

He laughed, raising his hand to cover his mouth. "Yeah? Well, I guess I can't complain about that."

"You better not."

The two made their way into the zoo proper and started the circuit. "So," Adrien said somewhat awkwardly, "Alya."

"Mhmm?"

"Your dad is a zookeeper, right?"

"Yep." She popped the "p" playfully. "He works mostly with the black panther here. Speaking of, we need to stop by that exhibit. Dinah, the panther, misses me. According to Dad, anyway."

Adrien chuckled. "I'm sure your dad is right."

Alya eyed him carefully, watching as he rubbed his neck. He's uncomfortable. Was expecting more of us, I guess. Only question is what to do about it. I should still talk up Marinette when I get the chance. Just something to think about. "You know what I'm thinking?" She asked.

"Not really?"

"We're friends, yeah? We get along."

Adrien's eyes went a little wide. "Yeah! Of course you're my friend."

"Exactly. But we never really hang just us two, so now that we're like this, we don't really know what to say." Adrien opened his mouth to speak, but just flushed and rubbed at his neck and looked away. "So, what I'm thinking, is that maybe that's because we haven't really connected. What really brings us together is Nino, so without him we don't really have anything in common. Get it?"

"Yeah."

"So," She said, smiling, "what should we do about it?"

Adrien crossed his arms as he thought. "I guess… if we find something we have in common, we can talk about that?"

"So, let's find something we have in common. For now, we can just ask each other questions. With how much time we spend together we don't really know much about each other, do we? Beyond knowing we're both beautiful, obviously."

Adrien chuckled. "Yeah. I guess so. I don't think I even realized it until now, but we never really talk much about anything other than Nino and Marinette."

"Not that they're not totally fair game. But it would still be nice to get to know each other on our own terms, don't you think?"

"I really would like that."

"Then let's get started." She smirked. "First question: how much do you think you'll regret agreeing to a question game with me?"

Adrien sucked in an apprehensive breath and leaned away from her. "Is that a warning? That sounded like a warning. I don't remember agreeing to a question game."

"Well you're in one. You have to answer truthfully."

He chuckled weakly. "Well, in that case… I wasn't thinking I'd regret it, but now I'm starting to doubt."

Alya threw her arm over his shoulder and cackled. "Good. Your turn to ask a question."

"Alright, um… How're you at Ultimate Mecha Strike?"

"Middling at best, I think, but I basically only play Marinette so we'll probably never know." They both shared a laugh as they approached an enclosure full of flamingos. "If you were a semi-aquatic bird, which one would you be?"

Adrien gawked. "A semi-aquatic bird? Not just what animal?"

Alya gestured to the flamingos in front of them. "I'm not one for boring questions, Adrien, as you'll no doubt learn. I will also accept aquatic birds."

"Apparently. Huh, I guess… if I had to choose one in particular… how about an albatross?"

"Why an albatross?"

"I rather like the idea that the one who kills me will be cursed and stranded at sea for an indeterminable amount of time."

That had Alya reeling. She blinked, backstepped, and repeated his words in her mind just to be sure. "Well that's freaking dark."

"Pfft, kidding. Though, I did choose the albatross because of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. It's one of my favorites."

"Huh." Alya said. "I knew you were all cultured or whatever, but I figured it was because of your homeschooling. I didn't peg you as actually a nerd."

"How did you not peg me as a nerd?" Adrien laughed. "I thought you were good at reading people."

"I mean, obviously you're a nerd. I meant not a literature nerd."

"Haha, alright, I'll accept that. Grudgingly." The two left the flamingos behind and found their way into the reptile house. They enjoyed playing hide-and-seek with the reptiles, trying to spot it before the other could, until Adrien finally asked his next question. "Alright, so, interesting questions. When the lizard people take over the world, do you plan on submitting to our new reptilian overlords, or will you join the resistance to free humanity from our oppression?"

Alya hummed. "It's on that branch, by the way." She said, pointing to the green snake in the enclosure in front of them. "If they really are oppressing us, I think I'd join the revolution. At the very least I could be an informant. Make use of my skills. If they aren't, well, I'm not prejudiced against lizard people. I say welcome them."

"A very good answer." Adrien said, keeping his voice as serious as he could make it. "I, for one, love and accept our lizard overlords."

"Oh, no, they've already begun the invasion. They've replaced Adrien with a lizard person in disguise to plant the seeds and condition us before their hostile takeover!"

She felt Adrien's hand on her arm. When she met his eyes, she could tell he was doing all he could to keep a stoic expression. "Alya… You realize that now that you've figured out our plan, we have to take you next."

"You'll never catch me alive, you reptilian fascist." Alya reached up and roughly ruffled his hair, breaking free from him and twirling around a corner before he could recover.

"We don't need you alive, human!" Adrien called, rounding the corner after her. "We only need you out of the picture!"

She didn't want to run inside the building (she'd had that drilled into her by her dad when she was younger), so their faux chase didn't last long before Adrien caught her. "No!" She wailed. "I'm sorry, Marinette! I've failed you…" Adrien pulled her into his arms, trapping her in a hug from behind, and she leaned into him, reaching dramatically for the light above them. "Keep… the dream… alive…"

They stayed like that for just a moment before both of them burst out laughing. They were both wheezing and on their knees before either managed to stop. Lucky there's hardly anyone else here right now.

She did spy one family looking baffled but entertained by them, but they politely kept moving from enclosure to enclosure while she and Adrien had been incapacitated by laughter.

She wiped her eyes, as Adrien did the same. "Ready to keep going, o benevolent overlord?"

"Pfft, sure."

She stood and offered her hand. He took it and let her pull him to his feet. "I will admit." She said, not letting go of his hand as they headed back to the enclosures they'd passed in their little chase. "That was a good question."

"Why thank you. Now it's your turn again. Snake's under the rock, by the way."

She bent over to look at it, but her attention was much more focused on her companion. "Alright, then, Adrien. If that is your real name." She spared him a glance and a smile, enjoying how his grin remained and how his shoulders relaxed. He's not tense anymore. Good. She squeezed his hand. "Tell me a secret."

"You mean, aside from me being a lizard person in the boy who was formerly known as Adrien's skin?"

Alya laughed. "Yes, aside from that."

"Hmm. Well…" He tapped his chin with his free hand, not attempting to pull away the one still in Alya's grasp. "I have the entirety of Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet memorized, and it was not required for my homeschooling."

"You do not."

"Do too!"

"Okay, describe Marinette using only quotes from Shakespeare, then."

Adrien widened his eyes. "Marinette? Hmm, well…" He bit his lip and took a few minutes to mull it over. "Aha! Alright. Don't condemn me for this – I know where your head will go – but I think it works." He cleared his throat and dropped her hand so he could face her directly and preen himself for a moment. "Alright." With one more small cough, he began. "They say the lady is fair; 'tis a truth, I can bear them witness; and virtuous; 'tis so, I cannot reprove it; and wise, but for loving me; by my troth, it is no addition to her wit, nor no great argument of her folly."

Alya raised her brow. "For I will be horribly in love with her." She said.

His eyes went wide. "Alya…" He said slowly. "You know Much Ado About Nothing?"

"Yes, but go back to the 'I will be horribly in love with her' bit."

"I didn't say that. I purposefully left that off because I knew where your mind would go. I didn't expect you to actually know the quote."

Alya nodded. "That's fair. So how about the 'and wise but for loving me' part?"

Adrien rubbed his neck. "Well… she's not that subtle."

"You did know!"

"Of course, I knew! I know I'm not the most observant guy but give me some credit."

Alya crossed her arms and sighed. "And since you know, that means you don't like her that way." Adrien was exceptionally quiet. "Well, there go my plans."

"Your plans? I half expected this to be another set up but what plans, exactly?"

"Mostly just to talk her up. Try to get you to fall in love with her. But you clearly already admire her, and you're not taking the bait, so I'm not sure what else to do."

"Oh." Adrien chuckled nervously. "Would it be too bold to say maybe you should give it a rest? I like Marinette, I do, but…"

"Not that way. And always wondering if I'm trying to set you up every time we ask you somewhere must get kind of stressful."

"To say the least."

Alya nodded. "Alright. I won't manufacture dates anymore like I was planning today."

"I knew it."

"Yet you still agreed."

"Well… I wanted to spend time with you guys."

She shook her head. "Anyway. That's really sweet, actually, but anyway. I'll stop manufacturing dates, but as Marinette's best friend I'm still obligated to root for her. You understand. I'm still firmly in the 'Adrien will open his eyes one day' camp and will still be trying to get you two closer."

Adrien hummed. "I… guess that's fair. To be honest I would like to be closer with Marinette. It's just with her crush and the… yeah. So, I don't mind you trying to get us closer, just… don't bet on anything romantic, alright?"

"Alright. I can live with that." Alya nodded thoughtfully. "Getting you two closer was always the main goal in the first place, and now that this is out in the open I can work with you to get past that instead of trying to work around you. Should be fun."

Adrien let out a breath, a relieved sigh. "Thank god. Now I'm really glad I chose that quote. It's so much easier just talking about it instead of pretending I don't notice."

"Speaking of. Why pretend? Why not just turn her down?"

"She can barely talk to me as it is!" Adrien groaned. "It's selfish, but I don't want to ruin any chance we have of being friends. Especially not since you and Nino are so close so we all hang out so much."

Alya sighed. "Yeah. No judgement here. It would make for pretty awkward double dates."

"Still with me and Nino, right?"

Alya snorted and punched his arm playfully. "Yeah, dude."

"Just making sure." He snickered a little. "And while we're playing matchmaker. You and Nino seem to be cahoots."

"Cahoots?"

"Like it wasn't obvious that he ditched us because he thought it was going to be me and Marinette here. I'm a little surprised, actually. Last I heard, he had a crush on Marinette."

"Easy to see why, but I'm pretty sure he was converted a while back. That, or he's a huge pushover and he's too afraid of me to speak up."

Adrien raised his brow and tilted his head in acknowledgement. "Easy to see why."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Haha, it was." Adrien led the way out of the reptile house. "But I was really just fishing for something of your own love life, since you spend so much time on Marinette's. And mine, I guess."

"Hm." Alya said. "That's true. I suppose while we're talking like this I should ask you about your love life. I know you're not interested in Marinette, but other than that?"

Adrien raised his brow. "Other than that? Oh, yeah, there's loads of people I'm not interested in!"

"Adrien. I'm serious."

"Me, too! In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm not interested in most people."

"Rude."

"And don't think I didn't notice you dodge the question. I'll answer if you do."

Alya hummed and leaned on the railing outside the black bear enclosure. "Tell you what. Answer another smaller question, and then I'll answer the same one, and then we'll discuss the big one, alright?"

"Depends on the question, but I'm game."

"Do you have a crush? Just, on anyone. Is there someone you're interested in?"

Adrien chuckled. "Making sure you're not going to give up gossip for no return?"

"You read me like a book, my dude. So, you game?"

"Alright. I'll play. Yes, I do have a crush, though it's admittedly a completely unattainable one."

"Dude, same."

Adrien turned to the black bear and sighed wistfully. "It's not even just that she's way out of my league – though that might also be true. It's just…"

"Downright impossible because situational shenanigans." Alya said, shaking her head.

"Y-yeah. How did you know?"

"As I said: dude, same."

Adrien furrowed his brow. "Who's your crush?"

"Who's your crush?" She countered.

"Well, it's…"

"Together?"

Adrien nodded. "Three, two, one."

Both of them spoke simultaneously. "Ladybug."

They stared at each other for a moment, then Adrien broke. "You have a crush on Ladybug?"

Alya stuck to countering by repeating exactly what he said. "You have a crush on Ladybug?"

Adrien sputtered a little. "Wha- What do you even know about Ladybug?"

"Do you really want me to repeat your exact question for a third time?"

"I… well… it's my turn to ask the question."

Alya frowned. The last official question was… right. Tell me a secret. Shit, he's right. "That's mean."

"But I'm right."

"Fine." Alya pursed her lips. "As you know, I've had more than my fair share of encounters with Ladybug. We've talked, I've even interviewed her. Granted, most of those were her saving my butt, but that's not really a reason not to start crushing on her, right?"

Adrien frowned. "What about Chat Noir?"

"What about him?" She chuckled. "He's cute, too."

Adrien shrugged, and Alya noticed he avoided eye contact with her. "I- well, I just mean that so long as we're crushing on heroes, right?"

"Alright then, my question. What about Chat Noir?"

Adrien seemed to short-circuit a little at the question. He made all sorts of tiny, incomprehensible noises as he attempted to piece together a response. After a minute, Alya was tempted to call it and assume that Chat Noir was the true captor of Adrien's heart given how he was basically acting like Marinette in full on Adrien overload. "Th-that's…" He finally said, "…I accept that. That's fair. It just… didn't happen, I guess. I've seen Ladybug firsthand more than him, so I guess I just leaned towards her."

Alya nodded. "That makes sense. For me, too."

Adrien let out a breath. Alya decided not to mention that for his sake. He's really awkward about the subject of Chat Noir. Maybe he's crushing on both the heroes. But that wouldn't explain how he can so easily talk about Ladybug if it's just that. Maybe something happened between him and Chat Noir? Ooh, that would be interesting.

"Anyway." Adrien said, awkwardly rubbing his neck for the umpteenth time that day. He was quiet for a while, then said, "Ladybug?"

"Five times." Alya shook her head. "It's just a silly crush, anyway. I'm not an idiot. Even if she did notice me and noticed me that way, it couldn't work. For one, I don't know her secret identity, and though I obviously do want to know, I understand the need for secrecy, and I wouldn't want to pry that out of her."

"Really?"

Alya held her hands up. "Never said I wouldn't speculate. But I don't ever expect any sort of confirmation." She sighed, looking back at the black bear that was lazily shifting to find a spot in the shade since the shadows had moved and exposed its previous spot to the sun. "So, there's that, then there's the whole mask thing in the first place. I can't date a persona. I wouldn't want to. And even though I'm pretty confident I've seen some glimpses of who she really is, it's not that so much that is the problem, but rather the mask itself. There's too much tied up in it, and even I can recognize that things would be much better without it."

Adrien's voice was quiet when he responded. "You've thought a lot about this."

"Well, what else is a teenage girl to do?" Alya grinned. "What about you?"

Adrien wrung his hands. "Well, she's saved me a few times, too, you know."

"I guess." Alya patted his back. "Better question, then. Any love life news that isn't related to a masked superheroine that half of Paris is in love with?"

Adrien sighed. His eyes watched something far away that Alya couldn't see. After a moment, he smiled and shook his head. "Nope. You?"

"Nope." She chuckled. "At least it's something we have in common."

"Right, speaking of. You're a literature nerd as much as I am?" Adrien grinned.

"Not as much of one as you." Alya countered. "But I know my classics."

"Alya, I am so disappointed in you!"

Alya scoffed. "Really?"

"All this time trying to pair me with Marinette and you never once Benedick-ed me? You didn't even try?"

Alya shrugged. "Would've, but Marinette made me promise not to tell you and I think that kind of counts."

"Ah, that's fair."

"Would it have worked anyway?"

"Maybe, maybe not, but either way it would've given me an excuse to annoy Nino with Benedick's entire monologue."

Alya couldn't resist chuckling. "A worthy goal, to be sure. But nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance."

Adrien arched his brow. "Not I, believe me: you have dancing shoes with nimble soles: I have a soul of lead so stakes me to the ground I cannot move."

"You are a lover; borrow Cupid's wings, and soar with them above a common bound."

"I am too sore enpierced with his shaft to soar with his light feathers, and so bound, I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe: under love's heavy burden do I sink." Adrien dramatically feigned swooning, right into Alya's arms. She hauled him right back onto his feet with a laugh.

"And, to sink in it, should you burden love; too great oppression for a tender thing."

"Is love a tender thing? it is too rough, too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn."

"I'm starting to lose track of how much of this is actually relevant or if we're just going to reenact all of Romeo and Juliet."

"I would be totally down for just reenacting all of it."

Alya snorted again and grabbed his hand, finally starting towards the next enclosure. "Alright, well, tell me this one. How hung up are you on dear Rosalind?"

"Ladybug? Ah…" Adrien shook his head. "More than I should be, but not exceptionally so. I really am in love with her, but I have to acknowledge the situation, too. Even if she did like me, there's still all that other stuff in the way. It'd never work as is. Not going to stop me from hoping, though!"

Alya closed her eyes and nodded. "So, you were speaking from the heart."

"What?"

"It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn." She repeated. "You really are sad about it."

She looked over in time to see him blush. "W-well. I, uh… yeah. I guess."

"Personally," She said, "it's more a celebrity crush for me. Even if she asked me out right now I'd probably say no. Wouldn't be fair to either of us. But… you think different, then."

"It's just…" Adrien chuckled weakly. "How can you resist that? She's…" He gestured vaguely. "She's Ladybug."

"Exactly." Alya shook her head.

"Well, as long as we're indulging in fantasy, it wouldn't be Ladybug per se that I'd date anyway. I want to date the girl behind the mask. Ladybug will always be the hero, I'd want her to myself when she's not on duty. When the city needs her, I'd be content to share."

"Oh, really?" She laughed. "Wouldn't that be nice if Ladybug went around telling random teenagers her secret identity?"

"It'd be our secret."

"Well, I doubt she'd tell anyone without telling Chat Noir, first, so not strictly."

Adrien just shrugged and grinned. "I can live with that."

"Oh, boy." Alya chuckled as they approached an enclosure with some lemurs inside. "So, back to theoretical questions – no real-world implications, I promise – if you had to pick someone aside from Ladybug to date, who'd it be?"

Adrien hummed. "Hmm. How about…" He shrugged. "How about Nino? We're already best friends, he's cute, I'm cute, it's perfect."

Alya couldn't hold back her snicker. "Had to resist saying Marinette?"

"She's an option, I suppose, but I thought it better not to encourage you."

"Don't worry, bro, I promised no implications. I won't try anything."

"Good. So, how about you?"

"Me?" Alya tapped her chin. "Let's think… I'll go with Alix."

Adrien made a face at that. "That would be… scary."

She grinned at him, making him take a cautious step away from her. "Exactly."